The Interview
by HamPickleSandwich
Summary: Bernard gets his job interview for the job of janitor. The Rescuers oneshot. Bernard, Bianca, The Chairman and the RAS building belong to Disney. Heidi is mine.


It was an early morning in the United States. All around the streets, there were few people who were driving to find their destinations. After all, it was only a Saturday morning. Unnoticed to the human eye, however, were many little things. Little doors, little people. Little mice, actually- their actions were so similar to that of a person that they could have been mistaken for tiny people. A particular group of mice scurried along quickly towards the United Nations building, and popped in through the doors, unnoticed by others. They continued down to a mouse hole, with the heading 'United Nations, Mouse Entrance.'

In quite a different situation, a plump mouse sat bolt upright in his bed. Without even looking at the clock, he knew he was late for his interview. There had been a job opening at the Rescue Aid Society, and he had applied for it. He had always been interested in the RAS, and this job could be his answer to satisfying his curiosity. It wasn't much, but it fit his qualifications. The mouse got dressed, pulling on his red turtleneck jumper, and placing his brown newsboy cap on his head. His dust brown fur was clean, thank goodness. Bernard raced out the door in fear of being later than he actually was.

"Good morning, Mr. Chairman." A small tan mouse greeted the Chairman of the RAS.

"Good morning, Heidi- have the applicants arrived yet?" the chairman asked, eager to get the day over and done with. Interviewing mice for the position of janitor was a rather boring job under the position of Chairman, and he was positive it would drag onward.

He was right. There were around 15 applicants, and each interview taking a half hour.

Exhausted, he was pleased to know that there was only one applicant left.

Bernard was the last mouse left to sit in the waiting area before his interview.

'At least I'm not late..' he thought to himself, straightening his hat. Leaning back, he closed his eyes. There was still the little grey mouse from California getting his interview. In his mind he went over his answers, and questions. He was glad he was the 15th interview, and not the 13th. He had triskaidekaphobia, and that had not helped him in previous job interviews. That moment, a snowy white mouse walked past him, dressed in a yellow coat with a matching yellow hat. Her lashes fluttered about excitedly as she looked about the room. She was absolutely beautiful- and one of the many delegates. Bernard would have been glad that his eyes hadn't opened at that moment, or he would have forgotten everything he needed to say.

"Oh, Mr. Chairman- I am so sorry for interrupting. May I-?" Bianca asked quickly.

"Sure, Miss Bianca, feel free to sit as long as you like. The last interview is about to go underway." the chairman replied. The white mouse sat, folding her hands in her lap.

"I need ask you about the next Summit Meeting... I may not be able to get there."

"Why ever not, Miss Bianca?" the chairman asked incredulously. Bianca sighed.

"It is my sister, she isn't very well. I fear she may experience the worst if I am not there to look after her. It worries me so much, and-" she was cut off by the chairman.

"Do not worry about the Summit Meeting, dear Miss Bianca. Family does sometimes have to come before duty, you know." he said kindly, before walking out to call in the next possible employee. Bianca sighed. Ever since she was asked to join the Rescue Aid Society as Hungary's Representative, heck, ever since she had become a grown woman, lots of men seemed to be doing her favours. She played along, as she did prefer the company of men more than women, though she tired a bit of their flirting.

Bernard opened his eyes to see the swish of a tail enter the meeting room. He gulped as his hands started to shake. Not only would he be speaking with the Chairman, of all mice he could be speaking with, but there would be another mouse listening too? He hoped not. He scratched his head slowly, digging at a knot in his fur. As he finally loosened it, the Chairman emerged from the meeting room. Bernard nearly had a heart attack right then.

"Mr. Bernard? Are you ready?" the chairman asked clearly. Bernard stood.

"Y-yes." he stammered, following the chairman in. He seemed to have made a mistake in doing that.

At the far end of the meeting room, where a small desk was, sat a lady mouse whose fur was pure white. Her eyelashes were long and boasted femininity. Her eyes, which glistened a most peculiar shade of blue-black, stood out beyond all her other features. Bernard blinked. He blinked, and blinked again. The chairman was a few paces in front of him now, and the white mouse had started to gaze upon him with some strange look in her eyes. Bernard forced his eyes away, and quickened his pace to catch up with the chairman.

As the pair reached the desk, the chairman spoke again, this time more quickly.

"Mr. Bernard, as you would probably know, I am the Chairman of the Rescue Aid Society, and this... this is Miss Bianca, our Hungarian delegate." he introduced her.

"What a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Bernard. I hope you don't mind if I sit in on your interview?" she asked, her voice ringing like a sweet little bell. Bernard shook his head.

"No... I guess I don't mind." he said, forcing his heavy tongue to move. He briefly wondered if Miss Bianca knew wether he felt vaguely intimidated by her. Her form seemed to have a ravishing beauty which reflected her voice, and a glittering personality orbited around her. Bernard could never hope to have such a personality, though he had been told before that his was indeed like no other.

"Well, Mr. Bernard, we shall begin." the chairman said, though his voice sounded like a ways off. Bernard nodded, forced out of his reverie. He began answering simple questions with simple answers, and difficult questions with open ended answers. Every now and again, Miss Bianca would speak, and Bernard would be caught off-guard, but he would force himself to act reasonable and normal. At least, he hoped he seemed normal enough. At last, when the interview was over, the chairman said his goodbyes.

"Goodbye, Mr. Bernard- we shall contact you in the morning in regards of your results."

"Oh, thankyou, Mr. Chairman. Goodbye- and to you too, Miss Bianca." he said, finally gathering his thoughts properly and leaving the room.

"Miss Bianca, I hope you have a pleasant evening." the chairman said, as he packed away his things. The lady mouse nodded thoughtfully. She then spoke quite unexpectedly.

"I know this must sound very biased, seeing as I only saw you interview Bernard, but I do hope you hire him." she said, with a foreign edge to her voice. The chairman stopped.

"Hire Mr. Bernard?"

"Yes. He has a certain quality about him, does he not?" Bianca replied coolly. Mr. Chairman thought her statement through- true, Bernard did have something that was different from everyone else, especially as he was the only one with the alluring Miss Bianca in the room. But what did she like about him so much? It didn't sound like she had fallen in love with Bernard, no, it sounded quite like she had met an old friend. But neither of those solutions were possible, as Miss Bianca only came around for Summit Meetings- she lived in Hungary, which was a fair ways away. He decided to ask her.

"Why do you say that, Miss Bianca?" he said, though guardedly as not to upset her.

"He has more control over what he does than any other man I've ever met- apart from you, Mr. Chairman." she pointed out. The Chairman knew she was right, and decided that yes, Mr. Bernard would start his work here on the Monday. Miss Bianca left, tottering faster than usual. The Chairman watched after her incredulously, but shrugged it off.

Bernard walked home that evening, contrary to his run that morning. It occurred to him that he had waited for his interview for around 5 hours, and sat through a half hour of interview. Stretching his legs, he continued walking, surprised that he felt so light.

'It must be from all that sitting.' he thought to himself. Rummaging in his pocket, he pulled out several dollar bills that he had taken to buy his lunch. Since he had not eaten, he realised he was very hungry. There was a stall selling warm food and cold drinks nearby, so he made purchases of a box of chip crumbs, and a small bottle of water.

He sat on the curb to eat, and concentrated on clearing his head. He was unused to someone who could take away his self control like that, and, in the case that he got the job, even though it was only janitor and she was a delegate, he would have to get used to seeing her around.

"Mr Bernard?" a familiar voice asked him. He gulped, swallowing his mouthful of food. Looking up, he gazed right into the shining eyes of Miss Bianca. He stuttered.

"M-Miss Bianca." he said, putting the empty box aside. The white mouse sat beside him.

"I see you like to eat here too. Whenever I am here in New York, I come here at least once." she explained thoughtfully, as if carefully picking out her words.

"Um, actually, this is the only time I've been here." Bernard replied, slightly ashamed. Miss Bianca shook her head, as if detecting his silent apology. Bernard shrugged.

"Mr. Bernard?" Bianca asked suddenly. Bernard looked away from her magnetic gaze.

"Just... just Bernard, Miss Bianca." he offered, mentally kicking himself for his stuttering.

"Oh. Bernard, where is it that you normally like to go during the day?" she asked again. Bernard nearly choked on his tongue. He quickly took a drink of water, then replied-

"There's a park just a block away from my house, where I used to work- though I wasn't employed by anyone. It's quite, um, quite... beautiful." he explained. 'Like you', his thoughts added. His eyes widened, and he coughed, blinking quickly yet again that night.

"You are rather quiet this evening, Bernard. Is there something on your mind?"

"Oh, no- it's nothing, Miss Bianca." Bernard said, avoiding her gaze.

They sat together, saying nothing for another 13 minutes. Bernard wrung his hands.

"Well, goodnight, Miss Bianca." he said, standing up. Bianca looked after him.

"Goodnight, Bernard, dear." she replied warmly. Bernard felt a shiver trickle down the back of his head at the mention of the word 'dear'. Nobody, ever since he had left his parents, had ever called him 'dear'. It was quite pleasant. He smiled all his way home, and wondered wether he would, in fact, get the job. He looked forward to seeing Miss Bianca again- she would be a lovely friend to have, he was sure.

Bianca woke up in her small hostel room the next morning, bright and early. She was preparing to return home today to look after her sister. Inez was still sick with the flu, and it was almost pneumonic. Before she left, however, she planned to drop into the RAS once more to see the Chairman. Not being one that was much for suspense, she planned to ask the Chairman if Bernard had, indeed, received the job. She spoke the complete truth about him, he did have immaculate self-control. What she had not mentioned to the Chairman was that he was the only man she had ever met that didn't start flirting with her- it was quite refreshing, and Bianca looked forward to seeing him in future.

"Mr. Chairman, sir? Miss Bianca is here to see you." The small mouse named Heidi announced to the Chairman, who was sorting through several papers. He nodded.

"Yes, yes, send her in, Heidi." he said flatly. After sitting up half the night, he was bound to feel a little tired. Miss Bianca entered, today wearing her usual travelling clothes- a purple cap and lilac shawl with a ribbon around the front. She waved cheerfully.

"Good morning, Mr. Chairman!" she greeted him happily. The Chairman smiled.

"What may I do for you, Miss Bianca?" he asked, though he had a little idea of what.

"I was wondering if you could tell me, well, if you could tell me who received the job."

"Why, Miss Bianca, you'll be pleased to know that I decided to hire Bernard after all. I'm about to send Heidi over to his residence now, you see." the Chairman informed her.

"I'm glad, Mr. Chairman. I'll see you at the next RAS meeting." she replied warmly, with sincerity lacing her voice, her eyes glittering with content. The Chairman nodded, forgetting for the moment that seeing Miss Bianca at the next RAS meeting was very unlikely.

It was a few weeks later, on the night of the RAS meeting, when Bernard was casually sweeping the dust off the floor. Many of the delegates were entering the meeting chamber, giving him quiet nods as they went. It was only when there was a fragile silence in the next room where Bernard gave a quiet sigh, and leant against the wall. In time, he would know the names of the delegates, but for now... it was just awkward. The only people he knew here were the Chairman, Heidi, and... Miss Bianca. He sighed again. She wasn't here tonight. Her warm smile was enough to make anyone feel good for days. He thought of this from experience. Voices from the next room interrupted his train of thought.

"_R-E-S, C-U-E, Rescue Aid Society,_

_Heads held high, touch the sky,_

_You mean everything to me..._

_In a fix, in a bind, call on us, anytime_

_We'll appear, from nowhere_

_Mighty, are we._

_R-E-S, C-U-E, Rescue Aid Society_

_Honesty, loyalty,_

_We pledge to thee._

_R-E-S, C-U-E, Rescue Aid Society,_

_Heads held high, touch the sky,_

_You mean everything to me..._

_In a jam, in a scrape, when you think, no escape_

_Do not fear, we'll be here,_

_Courageous, are we._

_R-E-S, C-U-E, Rescue Aid Society_

_Heads held high, touch the sky,_

_Our hearts we pledge to thee."_

Bernard let out a noise full of wonder. He knew he was not allowed to look in unless he was called upon, of course, he would never dream of doing that. However, the song had such harmonious melodies and lyrics he thought that the song instilled the feeling that everything would be alright. A pattering noise to his left registered in his ears. As he looked towards the white mouse wearing a familiar yellow travelling coat and fur cap, he knew that, indeed, everything would be fine.


End file.
